As the cost of oil around the world continues to climb, the price of food has increased to the point where many Haitians (where most people make less than $2 a day) have begun eating cookies and pies made of dirt and mud.
Carrying buckets of dirt and water up ladders to the roof of the former prison for which the slum is named, they strain out rocks and clumps on a sheet, and stir in shortening and salt. Then they pat the mixture into mud cookies and leave them to dry under the scorching sun…
The finished cookies are carried in buckets to markets or sold on the streets.
A Haitian doctors say depending on the cookies for sustenance risks malnutrition.
“Trust me, if I see someone eating those cookies, I will discourage it,” said Dr. Gabriel Thimothee, executive director of Haiti’s health ministry.
Marie Noel, 40, sells the cookies in a market to provide for her seven children. Her family also eats them.
“I’m hoping one day I’ll have enough food to eat, so I can stop eating these,” she said. “I know it’s not good for me.”
Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt. [AP]